Bearing for centrifugal machines.



PATENTED AUG. 14, 1905.

w. A. SAUNDERS. v BEARING FOR GENTRIFUGAL MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 14.1905.

2 SHBETSSHEET 1.

mvEN-m Mfg PATENTED AUG. 14, 1906.

2 smmassnnm 2.

W. A. SAUNDERS. BEARING FOR GENI'RIFUGAL MACHINES.

APPLIGATIOI FILED AUG. 14. 1905.

lllIl/l/l/IIIl/fl INVENTUR= w z d WILLIAM A. SAUNDERS, OF ROXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS.

BEARlNG FOR CENTRlFUGAL MAOHlNES- No. saaces.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Aug. 14, 1906.

Application filed August 14,1905. Serial No. 274.041.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. SAUNDERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Roxbury, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new an useful Improvements in Bearings for Centrifugal Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved bearing for centrifugal machines, the same being particularly adapted to laundry-machines of the class known as centrifugal extractors, in which wet clothing is placed in a rapidly-rotating basket having perforations in the sides thereof, said basket being inclosed within a casing and the water extracted from the clothing by centrifugal force passing through the perforations in the basket and into the outer casing surrounding said basket, from which it is conducted by suitable piping to a drain-pipe or receptacle provided therefor. In machines of this class the rotary speed is very high, andit is very essential that the bearings of the main shaft should be very thoroughly lubricated and supplied with a constant source of lubricating material in order that the shaft may not become heated and the bearings roughened up and spoiled. It is also essential that some compensating device should be connected to the bearing of the main shaft which will automatically compensate for differences in load caused by the clothing in the basket hereinbefore referred to being unequally distributed therein.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the fol lowing specification and particularly pointed. out in the claims thereof.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section, partly in elevation, of my 5 improved bearing, the same being taken on line 1 1 of Fig. 2, with the basket and casing removed. Fig. 2 is a vertical detail sectional elevation of the same, taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, showing said bearing in connection with the basket, casing, framework, and brake of a centrifugal extractor. Fig. 8 is a detail section, taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1, partly shown in elevation. Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the friction-bushing. Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the drawings, 5 is a cylindrical basket consisting of a cylindrical metal shell 6, provided with perforations 7, saidshell being fastened to a bottom 8, which is fastened to a vertical shaft 9. The vertical shaft 9 has fastened thereto a pulley 10 immediately below the basket 5, said pulley being provided of the cylindrical standard 12 of the frame 13 projects. The vertical-shaft 9 rotatescin a stepped-bearing sleeve .14, the lower end of said shaft resting upon washers 15 15, said washers in turn resting upon a plug 16, screwed into the lower end of the bearingsleeve 14 and having a rectangular hole 17 in the under side thereof, so that a square-ended wrench may be inserted therein for the purpose of rotating the plug 16.

The upper end of the sleeve 14 has a hefni spherical flange 18 fast thereto, which is provided upon its interior with an oil-chamber 19, the periphery of said flange fitted to rock in a hemispherical recess 20, formed in the upper end of the cylindrical standard 12. A perforated washer 21 surrounds the sleeve 14 Within the oil-chamber 19 and projects into an annular groove 22, formed upon the interior of the flange 18 at the top thereof. The base-frame standard 12 projects upwardly beyond the top of said hemispherical flange and has an annular groove 23 formed in the top thereof. The center of the hemispherical flange 18 is located in a horizontal plane extending through the pulley 10, said horitween the top and bottom of said pulley or the median horizontal plane of said pulle A frictional device adapted to contro vibrations of the shaft9 and sleeve 14 is provided below the hemispherical flange 18 and rigidly attached thereto by screw-threaded engagement therewith and locked against rotation with relation to said bushing by a i lock-nut 26. The arm 25 projects through a friction-bushing '27. The friction-bushin 27 is provided with an annular flange 28, and upon opposite sides of said annular flange are rovided packing-rings 29, constructed, preferably, of rubber, which encircle said bush-' ing and are held in a recess 30, provided in the frame 13, by a stuffing-box 31, which is forced into said recess in the usual manner by bolts 32, so that said flange 28 is firmly held between the packing-rings 29 29. The bushing 27 is provided at its opposite ends with flanges 33 33, said flanges extending about half-way around said bushing and hav- 1 ing, preferably, a sharp edge.

with a chamber 11, into which the upper end zontal plane being preferably midway bea consists of a bushing 24, having an arm 25 interior of the chamber 34 integral with the means of aspring 43, one end t ereof fast to ed to said hollow standard to conduct away ing, as hereinbefore described. The base 46 The frictional device hereinbefore described, together with the lower portion of the sleeve 14-that is, that portion of the sleeve which projects downwardly from the hemispherical flange 18it will be noted, is pontamed within a chamber 34, provided in the interior of the frame 13. A cover 35 is hinged to the stuffing-box 31, covering the outer end of the arm 25 and bushing 27; An oil-guiding flange 36 is provided upon the frame 13 and projecting downwardly therefrom over the arm '25 and between the hemispherical flange 18 and rubber packingrings 29.

A brake for stopping the rotation of the shaft 9 and the basket 5 is provided, consisting of a treadle 37, ivoted at 38 toa bracket 39, fast to the stan ard 12, said treadle being provided with a brake-shoe 40, fastened to said treadle bymeans ofv a bolt and nut 41 and42, res ectively. The brake-shoe 40 is held out 0 contact with the ulley 10 by said treadle, the other to one of the standards 44. v

The basket 5 is surrounded by a casing 45, fast to a base 46, provided with an annular channel 47, which opens downwardly into the hollow standard 44, a pipe 48 being connectthe Water which is extracted from the clothis supported upon three standards 49, 49, and 44.

The operation of my improvements when embodied in a centrifugal extractor is as follows: A ra id rotary movement is imparted to the vertical shaft 9 and to the basket 5 by means of a beltand the pulley 10. This rapid l motion causes the water to be extracted from the clothing by means of centrifugal force, said water passing through the perforations in the basket 5 into the casing 45 and downwardly into the channel 47, thence through the upper-portion of the standard 44 and outwardly through the pipe 48 to a convenient receptacle or drain-pipe in a manner well known to those skilled in this art.

The lower portion ofthe sleeve 14 is held by the friction device hereinbefore described, consisting of the bushing 24', arm 25, frictionbushing 27 and packing-rings 29, against any extreme change in position, so that any variation in weight upon opposite sides of the basket is compensated for by a slight change in position of the vertical shaft, the sleeve 14, the arm 25, and the bushing 27, the arm 25 sliding longitudinally slightly in said bushing and said bushing tipping slightly to allow slight changes in position of the vertical shaft and the basket attached thereto, said sleeve 14 rocking upon the hemispherical flange 18 1n the recess 20, formed u on the top of the cylindrical'standard 12. it will be seen and understood that the rubber packing-rings '29 yield slightly to allow the'friction-busln'ng 27 to accommodate itself to a slight change in vertical position of thevertical shaft 9 and the basket attached thereto, so that by the construction hereinbefore described the basket is self-centering and the vibrations caused by said basket seeking its center are controlled b describe It is very essential in a device of this character. that the sleeve should be held by the frictional device at a point beneath the ball or hemispherical bearingflange 18 in order to lessen the vibration caused by the rapidly-rotating basket with its load of clothing and Water contained therein, and, further, it is ve desirable that the rubber acking-rings an all of the frictional device s ould be protected from oil and Water and also that the ball-bearing should be thoroughly oiled in the frictional device hereinbefore order to prevent friction and roughing up of wardly from said hemis her-ical flange will pass around the inner s ace of the standard 12 inside the chamber 34, but will be prevented from flowing downwardly into contact with the rubber packing-rings 29 by coming into contact with the oil-guiding flange36, and any oil upon the surface of the arm 25 is prevented from traveling along the under side of the friction-bushing 27 by the oil-guidin flange 33 at each end of said bush ing, the oi passing down the end of the bushing from the arm 25 and falling off the sharp lower edge of the flanges 33 so that it will be.

seen that the rubber packing-rings are well guarded against oil and that the different parts are conveniently and thoroughly supplied with oil, while the friction device and the sleeve 14 are protected from water which may be splashed from the basket and its receptacle by being entirely inclosed within the casing of the frame 13.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire by Letters Patent to secure, is

1. A hearing for centrifugal machines comprising in its construction a vertical rotary shaft, a sleeve constituting a stepped bearing for said shaft, there being a hemispherical" flange on the up er end of said sleeve, a base;

provided with a emispherical recess therein, constituting a bearing for said flange, a frictional device consistin of a bushing encircling said sleeve beneath said flange, an arm IIO rigidly attached to said bushing, a frictionbushjng into which said arm rojects, there being an annular flange on said friction-bushing, packing-rm s encircling said bushing upon opposite si es of said annular flange, a stuffing-box constructed to hold said acking in a recess formed in said base, said tion device and the portion of said sleeve below said hemispherical flange inclosed within a chamber provided in said base, there being an oil-guiding flange on said base extending around the interior of said chamber between said hemispherical flange and frictional device and above said arm, whereby oil from said oil-chamber is prevented from coming in contact with said packing.

2. A hearing for centrifugal machines comprising in its construction a vertical rotary shaft, a sleeve constituting a ste ped bearing for said shaft, there being a iiemispherical flange on the upper end of said sleeve profric- I vided with an oil-chamber therein, a base provided with a hemispherical recess therein constituting a bearing for said flange, a bushing encircling said sleeve beneath said flange, an arm rigidly attached to said bushing, a friction-bushing into which said arm projects, there being a ,fl'ange havin a shar outer ed e at each end of said bus ing, an an annuiar flange on said friction-bushing, packing-rings encircling said bushing upon opposite sides of said annular flange, and a stuffing-box constructed to hold'said packing in a recess formed in said base. i In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM A. SAUNDERS.

Witnesses v v 7 CHARLES S. GOODING, ANNIE J. DAi'LEY. 

